Disciple: Lift Every Voice 2016: South Africa

By Ashley Watson, Leighton Harrell, Beth Crow

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This summer marked the second year of Lift Every Voice, a three-year multinational program for youth and young adults sponsored by the Diocese of North Carolina and funded by a Jesse Ball duPont grant. LEV, as it is known colloquially, revisits the historical truths of slavery and the Civil Rights movement in North Carolina and apartheid in South Africa while encouraging participants from across the United States, South Africa and
Botswana to plan programs around reconciliation and social justice in their own dioceses.

MOVING TOWARD RECONCILIATION

Ashley Watson is a senior at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina. She is a member of St. Alban’s, Lexington, South Carolina, who previously served on the Diocese of Upper South Carolina’s Diocesan Youth Leadership Committee. The following is her account of LEV 2016.

Lift Every Voice 2016 (July 3-10, Cape Town) brought together youth and young adults from the United States, Botswana and South Africa to discuss issues of truth, reconciliation and peace. From July 3 through July 10, more than 90 Episcopalians and Anglicans gathered in South Africa as an international faith community to have dialogues about apartheid and the rising racial and social tensions in the United States and abroad. The experience proved to be alternately pivotal, humbling and world changing for participants.

During the week, we were blessed with chances to meet various influential people who shaped our understanding of the apartheid narrative. One of the most powerful experiences was our time spent with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The opportunity to share Eucharist with one of the key figures in the apartheid resistance was absolutely incredible. Although frail, his laughter completely filled the space we were in, and he was patient enough to let our group take a large number of photos with him. During an interview with North Carolina participant Leighton Harrell, Tutu reflected on the activism he has seen in young people, like those participating in LEV 2016, noting that he has “been very taken by young people and their enthusiasm, their commitment, and they haven’t changed. They want to see a better world.”

Our own LEV 2016 community began making strides to a better world through the powerful words of the speakers to whom we listened. Our speakers described experiences of abuse and imprisonment during the apartheid years, but they also spoke of the importance of things like interfaith communities, elections, youth activism, healing and forgiveness. Father Michael Lapsley, an Anglican priest who lost both arms to a letter bomb during apartheid, truly embodied the teachings of LEV 2016, reminding us: “Pain is transcendent. Pain is what can connect the human family; but that happens only when people are able to tell each other their stories — speaking of that which is the deepest within them.” This storytelling method not only unites us as a human family, but also is one way to begin the process of forgiveness and healing.

Although our road to forgiveness and healing began with Lapsley, it didn’t stop there. We visited the Amy Biehl Foundation, which truly exemplifies principles of forgiveness, healing and restorative justice. In 1994, Biehl was on a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Western Cape Community Law Center working to develop voter registration programs for women and black South Africans as the country’s first race-inclusive election approached. She was volunteering in the township of Gugulethu, outside Cape Town, when she was murdered by a mob simply because she was white. Through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, however, the men responsible were forgiven by her parents and granted amnesty. Even more remarkably, two of these men now work for the organization that bears Biehl’s name. Her parents’ ability to forgive in such a manner and work with the men responsible for their daughter’s death is something that was difficult for participants to grasp.

Despite the difficulties involved in understanding the forgiveness shown through the Amy Biehl Foundation, we began our own journey of forgiveness and healing to try to make sense of it all. One path on our journey involved us watching playwright and actor Mike Wiley’s one-man performance of Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till. His performance drew a strong visual parallel between the injustice faced in the United States and the injustices we were learning about in South Africa. As Masondo Nonduduzo, a participant from Botswana, pointed out, “The justice system had failed the Till family and the justice system continues to fail thousands of families, especially black people.”

Wiley went further to connect Till’s story to the stories of everyone involved in LEV 2016 through two sessions of crafting and sharing “Where I’m From” poems. We were given opportunities to compose poems based on a series of questions Wiley posed about smells, sounds and events that shaped our lives in the past and continue to shape them in the present. We first composed poems based on the answers of our partners, and, later in the week, we wrote poems based on our own answers. About the experience, Mmipi Kgololo, also from Botswana, reflected, “For the first time in many years I was able to open up and share some of my life stories.”

The storytelling continued through personal discussions on injustice and a panel on stereotypes that we experience in our daily lives. For South African participant Chiara Jeptha, these stories were disturbing because “many of these hurtful statements are still controlling us today and impacting the way we think about ourselves.” One key moment really influenced
our discussions: The Rev. Lawrence Womack, then of St. Anne’s, Winston-Salem, told the group about Philando Castile, a black man who was killed by police in Minnesota during our time in South Africa. South African participant Adrian Gordon encapsulated the group’s reaction when he said, “We were taught about all of the stories of forgiveness and restorative justice and the history of injustice in mostly South Africa which happened 20-plus years ago, and yet still today we are experiencing injustice.” The news from America re-emphasized that there is still so much reconciliation-based work to be done outside of our group.

To begin this peace-making, South African participant Kurt Hartley plans “to go out in the community to be a disciple and share the message with others [...] to be a motivator to those who are weak in spirit and be an empowering tool to those stuck in history,” while Eden Segbefia of Durham, North Carolina, “will always remember the importance of being enlightened by new experiences, people and information.” Personally, I have taken away a better understanding of the various stereotypes, prejudices and injustices that are still abundant today, but that may not directly affect me. This is making me become a more active citizen and friend, and I hope to be more aware of these issues in my own community in the future.

Ultimately, LEV 2016 shaped young apostles who will change the way the church and the world look at issues of justice. My sentiments about this experience parallel that of Durham’s Michelle Lanier, one of the conference leaders:

“The journey was one I will never forget. I imagine that my time with LEV in South Africa will be with me, as an impactful and compelling memory, for life. The people I met, the landscape, the history, the music, the worship — will all live in me.”

- Ashley Watson

BREAKFAST WITH THE ARCHBISHOP

A little over a month ago, I met, received communion from and shared breakfast with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I am still trying to take the experience in. I had never met a person who has had an impact on so many lives. It is amazing to me that such an extraordinary person was so real. It really felt as if he could be my Grandpa!

After the morning prayer he led, we walked across the street to a local cafe. Once there, we sat down and got ready to order. It was a Friday morning [for many a day to fast], so he jokingly scolded Beth Crow, Bishop Anne and me for ordering food to eat. The waitress saw him and knew immediately what to get him. First, he needed a glass of hot water to warm up his hands. Then, he got a chocolate shake and what looked to be a strawberry smoothie.

When we started to chat, I was mesmerized by his words. Beth, Bishop Anne and I were accompanied by a Ph.D. candidate from Vanderbilt studying the impact of religion on LGBT policy, as well as President Obama’s advisor on LGBT policy. Their questions were incredibly thought-provoking and often complex, but Archbishop Tutu’s answers reflected his lifetime of study and the depth of his wisdom. I am continuously reminded of this wisdom as I reflect on the experience. His words stirred within me a new passion to do everything I can to commit myself more to the Jesus Movement, as Bishop Curry calls it. Another way to think about it is as our responsibility as Christians to keep the faith through actively working against oppression.

I asked the Archbishop what he thought the role of the youth should be in movements for justice in the world today. He told me that the youth should continue to do what they have always done, to bring our unique energy and never stop, to hold our elders accountable and never settle for anything less than justice for all. It was incredibly validating to hear that from Archbishop Tutu, a personal hero of mine and someone who has fought for liberation for so many. To hear anyone acknowledge the importance of youth feels good, but to hear it from him was surreal.

I want to tie all of this back down to the message of love. To me, that is what this is all about. Without radical and undying love for people, any movement concerning liberation is doomed to fail. Archbishop Tutu loved his nation so much that he fought for what was right because he knew there was a better way for his people. Sometimes, there is nothing more radical than pure and radiant love. Love is the why. Love is why people of color sat in at lunch counters and marched in the streets of the American South. Love is why people rose up in South Africa to protest the curriculum being switched to Afrikaans only. Love is why we demand police officers be held accountable for killing unarmed black teenagers. Love is the why, and love is enough. It is this love that Archbishop Tutu has for the world, and it is this love he has inspired in me.

- Leighton Harrell

COFFEE MUGS AND SEGREGATION

One of the focuses of Lift Every Voice is listening to understand and using what we learn about each other’s cultural and racial perspectives to treat each other with respect and compassion. Even in an environment focused on practicing these skills, however, miscommunication and mistakes will happen. By keeping open the channels of honest communication, new understanding and deeper relationships can emerge, even from our missteps.

When the team arrived at the Christian Brothers’ Center in Stellenbosch, South Africa in the middle of their winter, July, we quickly pulled out the winter clothes we had packed and began preparing several large urns for hot drinks. The center, as is true for most buildings in Cape Town, is not heated, and its thick walls insulate the rooms well from the outside temperatures, meaning the rooms stay chilly most of the day.

It wasn’t long before the sinks filled with mugs, leading us to grab clean mugs several times throughout the day. Trying to be a good steward of the environment and of our time, I challenged the team to think of a way we could mark the mugs so we could reuse the same ones throughout day. Quietly, Cathy Arendse, one of the coordinators from Cape Town, said she didn’t think that was a good idea. She proceeded to tell me that during apartheid, public places marked coffee mugs as those for “whites” and those for “coloreds.” Cathy was concerned our marking the mugs might cause some painful memories to resurface.

My intent was to minimize the numbers of mugs used. The impact, had we followed through with my idea, could have been quite damaging. I thanked Cathy for her honesty with me and commented on how thankful I am that she trusted me enough to be able to tell me this.  We washed LOTS of mugs during Lift Every Voice.

- Beth Crow, Diocesan Youth Missioner

WHERE I'M FROM

I am from freedom fighters and politicians
Locked in prison for many years
The struggle of freedom by the likes of  
     Mandela and Sobukwe.

I am from racism and oppression
People stoned to death in the street of Gugulethu
Indeed Amy was a remarkable person.

I am from people practising what Jesus
     preached about
Walking in his footsteps
Like a solid rock they were
Not shaken by Satan
Forgiveness is what mattered to them
     despite the pain they had
Surely God will bless them.

I will keep my memories in my mind
To always remember our beloved late legends
I will keep my memories in my phone
To always browse and see Lift Every Voice family
For we are one in God’s eyes,
     despite our skin,colour and language.

Observe, feel, establish a need and
     make a request.

- Kelebogile Molamu, Botswana